If there are more testimonies, we’ll have a chance next week or even in the future to share.
Okay, I’ll read one verse, and then we’ll pray.
2 Corinthians 5:17.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, when we first met Jesus, the foundation, a new foundation was laid on Christ. The old things that we previously. The previous foundation, the previous building materials, all of it was put away. It was all in the past. It was gone.
And, Lord, now, with your help and just holding on to you, Lord Jesus, you’re building a new house where your spirit can dwell with us and we can reflect Christ’s light to this world.
So, Father, we just pray that you continue to minister to us as we unpack what you did in our hearts on this trip. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
I so thank you for your prayers. We definitely felt them. The van, which was old, held up, which is a mini miracle.
211,000 miles went over a dirt, like a bump in the dirt road, and the bottom broke apart. But there was a mechanic on site, and so he just screwed some temporary attachments so that the bottom could be put back up. And so the van was good to go.
It really was a special team. I really appreciate Jackie and the boys and brother Ed, all of us working so hard. The Canaan church, you know, mid-sixties, all the way to, like late seventies, close to 80, actually. But they’re all, in their own way, serving.
I think a lot of the elders, they outworked me in there. Just physically, they’re just strong. Brother Ed was, I think, a favorite among the Canaan brothers and sisters because he drove in their car. I didn’t know Brother Ed could speak some Korean, but he could communicate with them with Conglish.
And then by the end, they were saying, can we borrow Ed for our services? Can he come early in the morning and join our service and eat with us? And they said, two, three years, he’ll be an elder. The youngest elder of Canaan church.
By the end of the trip, they’re talking about a merger. I think we made, overall, a good impression, which is great.
And then we saw Daniel’s mom downstairs. She said her main prayer request is that these two churches would be one. And God definitely did that. We were one in Christ, so praise God for that.
Oliver, Timothy’s friend, is a great person. I hope he can visit one day and share his testimony. He’s a young Christian. His parents did not grow up believing in God.
But then when Oliver was born, he’s the only son, the hope of the family. I think because of him, they came to know Christ for Oliver’s sake.
And then Oliver met the Lord maybe a year ago. This is his first mission trip. He’s very funny. He calls all of us bro. His favorite expression is low key. I had to ask him, why do you keep saying low key? What does that mean? I still don’t quite understand. But he was a very fun, fun young man.
The ages of the people. I think it’s a two- or three-year process. So you go partners with some local church, local churches, and then members in need, they submit applications. And so word must be spreading in Mexico, especially in more of the poorer parts. They must hear about, oh, there’s a church, and if you go to that church, you might get a house.
And so I think Alfonso maybe came with that desire and knocked on the door of Pastor Felipe’s church. And it’s, I think it was three years ago for them. They submit an application.
Alfonso, he picks tomatoes for a living. Makes about a hundred, slightly over $100 a week. And, I mean, there’s no infrastructure in the city that we were in. All dirt roads, as Jackie said, just wood scraps and cardboard just put together. No running water. They just have barrels, and they just capture rainwater or just dump water. And they’re washing their hands, doing everything out of these little barrels.
There’s no toilets, there’s just an outhouse, little wooden structures. So the ages were all wrong. So Alfonso, Adriana, and then Alejandra, I think she’s about 16. Fabiola, 15.
Jose Luis and Hovanni, 1413. They all, especially the two sons, really worked hard with us. Alfonso, when he was there, worked really hard. When he wasn’t there, Adriana’s brother, Uncle Enrique, came and worked alongside us.
By the end, Enrique, who is Adriana’s brother, and Armando, who is Alfonso’s brother, somehow got touched just by being around us. Maybe they never went to church, but by the end, they were asking for a Bible from the pastor. So, it’s just seeds being planted.
And again, you know, 1 Corinthians 3: some plant, some water. But in the end, we know we are doing nothing because God is the one who is doing the growth.
So we just do our little part. We give God all the glory.
I’ve been on a bunch of mission trips, and Jackie and I spent three and a half years before the kids were born in Japan. Our past mission experience and this mission experience is so different. Past mission experience, very structured, very stressful. Very stressful. This was so peaceful.
We didn’t have to do anything. It’s like the team there. They just provided everything. They provided the praise, they provided a message. It was all in 30 minutes. You can pack quite a bit in 30 minutes.
I think we should maybe try to do a 30-minute service. Ten minutes. Ten minutes praise, ten minutes message, and then we’re eating. So it’s very. I mean, every morning, every evening, it was like that.
God spoke to us about this: the old has gone, the new has come. you’re building this house.
It’s a metaphor for what God wants to do on the inside. And as all the testimony that were shared, you already shared the message. Because I went to Mexico for the first time when I was about Elijah’s age, about 15 or 16, and I didn’t know Jesus. And so, boy, I came back wanting to read the Bible on my own, which is a sign that God was trying to reach me. And I had caught a glimpse of Jesus. I was trying to read the Bible, and the foundation was starting to be laid.
And then I met Jesus a few years later in college. And now, 35 some odd years later, I’m going back, and the first day foundation is laid.
So before, it was the foundation of a church. I never saw the structure of the church being built. I have no idea if that church still stands. Whoever, you know, who worshiped in that church, this time the foundation is already laid.
Day one, we show up, we start building. By the first day, we already see the structure of the house.
So it’s almost like God is saying, okay, I sent you to Mexico the first time to lay a foundation. Now, 35 years later, let’s evaluate the house that is being built. And had I held onto Jesus closely for the 35 years, the house should be very much along.
But sadly, there are many stretches during those 35 years, I did not hold on to Jesus. So there’s still, as I evaluate my house, still a long way to go.
There are four people in the crew. Among the interns, they’re ages 18 to 23.
Pancho was the foreman leading the construction work. He showed up, he came through a different pastor, got adopted by that pastor, didn’t speak a word of English. But in a few short years, he learned English and he learned construction. Now he’s leading a team.
There’s Lauren. I mentioned over email. She was homeschooled. The father went to a Hugo, Mexico, mission trip and was so moved that he wanted to learn Spanish. He taught himself Spanish while he was homeschooling Lauren.
He taught her Spanish, and now she is doing construction work for the last few months and also is functioning as our translator.
As a 23-year-old amazing 18-year-old who graduated, Quinton graduated with an associate degree early. He’s a smart kid, doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life.
From Clovis, California, he spent the last six months there. He built 20 homes. 20 homes. Amazing. Like, we did one, and we were like, that’s a lot. He did 20 straight, and so did another brother.
20 years old, wants to be an electrician, and he’s from Boise, Idaho. He also was there for six months. So just impressive people for their young age, just giving their best years of their youth to the Lord is very challenging.
The theme of the week from Hugo was renovation. That’s why 2 Corinthians 5:17 was the key verse. And so I’ve been asking the Lord, what are the lessons that we can bring back to the states? It’s not clear to me yet, but one lesson is consistency.
We woke up every day. By 6:37, we’re in chapel. Thirty minutes later, we’re eating. Fifteen minutes after eating, we’re on the road. By 9:15, we arrive on the job site. We work until 4:30, we wash up, we have dinner, we have another chapel time, a couple hours of free time, and then we go to sleep.
And then the next day is virtually the same thing. It was just so much consistency. I forgot about instant rAmen at 9:30 every evening as part of our unwinding. Just that consistency.
And I look back on my summer months in particular. Things got out of whack. I knew it. I couldn’t get back on track. But I feel like the Lord answered one of my prayer requests: please, Lord, help me get back on track.
And I think as a family, we see the beauty of why consistency is such a key in the Christian life. So that’s one lesson that I think all of us can apply. The second one is just simplicity. We didn’t have cell phones, no data.
If we get lost in a row, we’re just lost. We had a four-car caravan. It’s a miracle we did not get lost. We should have turned on the data we tried to turn on in Mexico. It was too late, and so the data, we couldn’t turn it on. So we were just driving blind. Like if we lost sight of the caravan, we might not even be here because you know, I’m bad with directions.
So minimal technology, no cell phones, no YouTube, no streaming of videos. Just that simplicity. It gave room for God to speak.
And so that I think we can all apply, maybe not to the degree that we were in Mexico, but certainly there’s something there for us compared to what we consumed about technology and entertainment. We can curb it to make room for worship, make room for the Lord to speak through his word.
I think this makes sense. No wonder Jesus was a carpenter. You know, when he’s building furniture or building a house or whatever, he was building, his brain can be at ease.
You know, my brain was not completely at ease because I’m not that handy. So I have to follow, you know, elder John around. Like, he seems like he knows what he’s doing and follow the foreman around, and he’s, you know, on my case, if I’m not doing something right.
But there’s a simplicity of blue collar work. I think many of us, we don’t have that vocation, unfortunately. And to be a fisherman, like you’re just floating on a boat, hours on end, your brain is just not fully active until you see the net move.
Then you got a spring to action, just long stretches. And I just see, like, Jesus, the disciples, they must have been trained through their vocation just to have minds that are at peace.
And I’m asking, how do I bring that mindset into our working lives with Zoom meetings and stressful bosses and people under us who are underperforming? There’s a lot of just stress living in a typical job that’s not blue collar in America.
You know, I imagine, like, maybe Martha in the Bible, maybe she’s a businesswoman, maybe she has a lot of things.
She’s always just. Her wheels are spinning. And so when she’s just good at organizing, good at serving, and she gets annoyed at her sister Mary, who is just doing nothing. Mary knew something. She had a secret of just knowing how to be calm. When it’s time to be calm, when Jesus is there, it doesn’t matter what you were thinking about or what you’re working on. When Jesus is there, you put all of it aside, and right away you can just be calm.
You know, when I’m praying, it’s like 5-10 minutes in.
It’s like I’m thinking about something else. It’s like I don’t. My brain has not been trained to be calm. No wonder it’s hard to hear.
So how do I? How do we all, in our hectic, daily working lives, how do we bring that calm? And the best I can come up with so far is every time there’s a burden, every time there’s a stress, it’s just a. It’s an invitation. I gotta bring it to Jesus. I gotta bring it to Jesus practically. That’s all I can think of.
Because it’s not like we’re all gonna do blue-collar work all of a sudden. I mean, some of us in our family are talking about, should we move to Mexico, maybe? I mean, that’s not far-fetched. I mean, we could.
I remember when I was graduating college, it’s like, yeah, who cares about jobs and money? That’s my mindset. I want to give it all to Jesus. So I fully understand if that’s how God is stirring us. I totally understand. And maybe, maybe God will do something like that. Practically for some of us.
The third lesson, and this is the last one, which I’ll spend a little bit more time on, is radical generosity.
Pastor Felipe, we attended his church on Wednesday. He, I guess in Mexico, the way the system works is if you have a typical job Monday through Friday, then you earn Social Security. And if you have Social Security, that covers all medical expenses.
But because he is availing himself, which I really appreciate and respect, because they’re not asking like missionaries to do all the work, the pastor is doing his part. He’s discipling Alfonso’s family.
But when it’s time to build, like the whole time, he wants to be there. He wants to build alongside of us. He’s not getting paid for that.
And I looked at, I saw his church with these young kids, and they’re all from these huts. There’s no offering there. And so he doesn’t have much income from the church. He’s working for free during the week.
And then Friday, he says there are some rich people, people in the area with three-story homes.
He cleans one home on Friday, two on Saturday, and then he preaches on Sunday just right away. Like, this guy is a real deal.
He said his son has a serious medical condition, some heart issue. I still need some clarity on what it is, but a serious medical condition. He says, I can’t pay for it. But he says, I trust the Lord. He’s always provided.
That’s why when we went to his church, it really was a highlight for me. It’s like Hill Community Church in Mexico. Because there’s a church on a hill, it’s dirt roads.
It’s poverty that’s unimaginable for us. Like poverty here, we should use a different word. That is poverty in Mexico. It’s just even hard to get to the church. You can’t really drive. It’s such a narrow dirt road. My van wouldn’t make it, so we parked on the bottom of the hill. We just trekked up. People were just so poor who attended that church.
And as I was, the reason why I asked for prayers is because initially, I think Elder Dean asked me to share a few words earlier in the trip, and it sounded like it’s like a little welcome message. It’s okay. I’ll say some words of introduction.
And then I saw the pastor on, like, Wednesday morning or Tuesday night, and I asked him, okay, so what’s the program? When do I give my welcome? And he said, no, we want you to give the main sermon at the end.
And so that’s when I was asking the Lord for help, because there literally was no time to prepare. We were so tired by the end of the day, so I needed the Lord to come through.
As I was in the worship service, as Jeremiah said, they were not talented, really not talented. They were off tune, but really singing their hearts out. I was standing beside the pastor. He’s not just a. He’s not just there. He’s really worshiping. I could hear his voice.
And so my prayer started. All these people, Lord Jesus, can you meet them? Meet them, Lord, meet them, Lord. I was just praying that over and over as we were singing.
It’s all in Spanish. I don’t know the words. I recognize the melodies. I couldn’t sing along. So I’m just praying, Lord, meet them. Please meet them. They need you, Lord Jesus.
By the end of the prayer, I was saying, Lord, meet me. Lord, meet me. Lord, meet me. And I was just weeping like a baby. And I did many years of missions in Japan.
I don’t remember even one time weeping like that in Japan. In that kind of a rich country, so many missionaries go. For whatever reason, the gospel seed hit hardened soil, and it just never penetrated, never bore fruit. I don’t remember in three and a half years having a worship experience like that.
But in this first worship in Mexico, just weeping like a baby. And so it just as already has been shared. It’s because the Lord was there. The Lord was there.
He was already before I was praying that he was already preparing to be there. He was already with this church. He’s already with that pasture. And so me saying, meet them, meet me. And then having that experience is because the Lord Jesus was there.
I praise him for that. I praise him. And the two verses which Jeremiah already quoted that he gave me during the service is, blessed are you who are poor. In Luke 6:20, it says…
20…”Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20, ESV)
And in Matthew 5:3, it says…
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3, ESV)
The Luke’s version, blessed are you who are poor. For Mexico. God is with the poor in a special way that I experienced firsthand being there. It was different than Japan, different than America. The Lord was there in a circumstance which, you know, not so professional, not so on tune, but the Lord, his presence was there. That’s why it was a highlight for so many of us.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now that applies to rich or poor, to the whole world. And in that moment, I really felt impoverished in my spirit. I really needed the Lord Jesus to come through and that he wants me to hold on to.
It’s not like we’re going with great amounts of the Holy Spirit and we have something to offer. Offer them spiritually, no, we’re all the same. We’re all the same. They, in their physical poverty, they feel their need for Jesus. And you offer a little trinket, a little instant rAmen, so thankful.
And maybe in the beginning they attended church for material reasons, because they wanted a house. And those kinds of motives might have been mixed in. But by the end, you can see how the Lord uses their poverty to give them what they really need.
Like in Acts 3, Peter and John are going to the temple, and they see a crippled beggar at the beautiful gate. The beggar just wants money, but Jesus looks at him and says, silver and gold I don’t have.
But what I have I give to you in the name of Jesus. Walk.
And I felt like, okay for Alfonso’s family, for that church. Gathered at Pastor Felipe’s church, that church on a hill. I really don’t have anything to offer. We can give money, but money will run out. We can provide a house, but a year later, the house is probably going to need some renovation again. But what I can really offer is Jesus. So I ask them, just hold on to Jesus. That’s all I can really offer to you that matters.
The fact that God is for the poor. I really wanted to make sure. Is that true? Is there, is God his heart, especially for the poor? Or did I? Was that just an emotional experience? I don’t quite understand what happened. Or is there some truth to what I experienced?
And so that’s what I looked up this morning, and there are there are many verses, and I’ll just read a few, and then we’ll close.
Leviticus 19:9.
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10, ESV)
Leviticus 25:35.
35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. (Leviticus 25:35-36, ESV)
Deuteronomy 15-7.
7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. (Deuteronomy 15:7-8, ESV)
9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. (Deuteronomy 15:9-10, ESV)
11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ (Deuteronomy 15:11, ESV)
Psalm 140:12.
12I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.(Psalm 140:12, ESV)
Proverbs 14:31.
31Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.(Proverbs 14:31, ESV)
Proverbs 19:17.
17Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.(Proverbs 19:17, ESV)
Proverbs 21:13.
13Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.(Proverbs 21:13, ESV)
Isaiah 58:6.
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58:6-10, ESV)
Isaiah 61:1.
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound… (Isaiah 61:1, ESV)
And then if you think these are only applied to the old covenant, let me read some from the new.
Matthew 25:40: And the king will answer them, truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’(Matthew 25:40, ESV)
Luke 14:12.
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:12-14, ESV)
James 2:2.
2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:2-4, ESV)
1 John 3:17.
17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18, ESV)
So what group are we in? Are we in the blessed are the poor, or are we in the group blessed are the poor in spirit? I think the answer is obvious, and as I close, Matthew 19, the story of a rich man that Jesus wants to save.
This man wants to know about eternal life. He’s a religious man. He thinks he’s kept all the commandments, and to the best of his abilities, he did.
And Jesus says, there’s one thing you lack. If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21, ESV)
And when this rich man heard this, because of his wealth and his inability to let it all go, he went away.
Isn’t it a miracle of miracles that rich people like us were saved, can be saved? Salvation, the gospel, is for the rich and for the poor, but it is a miracle of miracles that the rich can be saved.
And so I started this mission trip thanking God for the greatness of my salvation and the privilege that I have to call God my father. From Luke 10.
And I end this mission trip just really grateful. I should not have been saved. Really is a miracle.
I could have easily, like this rich young man, walked away from the offer of salvation because I have too many things in my hands.
My encouragement to you, even if you did not go on this trip, if you tithe even $1 to this church, then you participated in this mission. For missions to happen, you need people who are willing to be sent, and you need people to raise funds and to be radically generous to provide finances for those who are sent.
I’m not sure if God will call from among us full-time missionaries.
I’m not sure. But as long as we’re here and we have finances that are being accrued, one thing that I ask you to invite you to consider is: what does the Lord want us to do with all these finances that are in excess?
Does he want us to just build bigger barns, move to a nicer zip code? Or does he want us to be radically generous to meet the needs of the poor?
If you do this, you will have a reward in heaven.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, thank you for all of us who participated in this mission trip, those who physically went, and the rest of us who remain back, who provide prayer, cover, and financial support.
Lord, this was a team effort. All of us joined in this mission trip. We all celebrate the peace of God that now rests upon Alfonso’s household, Adriana, and the seven children.
In terms of square footage, it is perhaps 400 for them, three to a room. But as long as your presence is there, the peace of God is there, then we’ve accomplished the mission.
It’s not about the physical structure. It’s about what you’re doing in the hearts of men, women, and children.
Lord, when we saw the eyes of the older Mexican grandmothers, we saw the hopelessness. Then we saw a little bit more hope in Alfonso and Adriana and in the eyes of the children. Like Adrian, the four-year-old, that’s all he knows. He still has a lot of hope.
Now, the nine of them, they grow up. They have a chance to grow up with some shelter. But, Lord, you ultimately are their strong tower, their refuge.
May they turn to you in good times and bad.
We pray for Pastor Felipe, a true man of God. You shine so brightly through him, and you’re reaching that whole area for Christ. Lord, we hope to go back. We thank you that this doesn’t have to be limited to a summer mission trip. We know that Hugo is building homes and reaching people year-round. So anytime we have a free week, a handful of us, we can go back. We can visit Alfonso and Adriana. We can visit Pastor Felipe. We can bless one another.
How great of an opportunity you’ve given to us. It’s only 5 hours away. Such a different world. Don’t you want us to share the riches that you’ve given us with our fellow brothers and sisters just across the border?
If you have other things that you have planned for this church to reach Bellflower or the other end of this earth, may you make that clear as well.
Lord, we’re going to put a frame of our first mission trip on the wall of this church. And may the walls of this church be covered.
Covered with missions, covered with acts of radical generosity. That’s why you’ve placed us in America. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us.
We thank you, Lord Jesus, for your body that was broken and your blood shed. Pray that you minister to us as we partake in the Lord’s Supper. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
